Brand Anna catches on with youth

Like anna: Std X students of Abhinav Vidyalay in complete Anna gear
participate in a protest. pic/Krunal Gosavi

So much is the demand for Anna T-shirts and caps that manufacturers have had to resort to hiking the prices almost three times the normal rates and force labourers to work overnight to meet demand. A salesperson at L G Gosavi Kapadwale, one of the oldest shops in Budhwar Peth, said the shop had not seen such brisk sales of the Gandhi topi before. "Even on Independence Days, we never got so many customers. We have sold out all our stock and have more than a 100 enquiries everyday, so our boss has ordered workmen to put in overtime to manufacture these caps," said a salesperson.

The caps are usually sold for about Rs 10 apiece. But a brisk survey would reveal that the scarcely available cap is sold anywhere between Rs 20-Rs 40. In fact, the demand is not just from Pune but neighbouring areas as well. "I got a call from Anna supporters in Solapur asking about caps in the city, as they were sold out there. They wanted us to send them a few bundles," said Siddharth Sharma, youth member of Hazare's NGO.

B B Somani, convenor of India Against Corruption (IAC) movement, Pune, which is leading Anna's fight against graft in the city, confirmed that they had sold more than 1,500 T-shirts and 2,400 Gandhi caps within the first two days. More than a thousand badges were also sold in the same period. "The demand was tremendous and we sold the merchandise effortlessly. The money will go in strengthening the movement. We are not getting more merchandise, as it is now available in the market. We, however, learnt that stocks are running out," he said.

Not just caps and T-shirts, but books written by Hazare are also running out of stock. Sunil Gadgil, proprietor of Popular Book House on Fergusson College road, said that enquiries were pouring in for books in English. "There are a few copies of Marathi books either written by or on Anna in the market, though few copies are left of even those now. There is a shortage of books in English and we received many enquiries. We have ordered for three such books and expect stocks in next couple of days," he said.

Hazare supporters said three books written by Anna include one on the RTI Act in Marathi, The Second Freedom Struggle and another one called My Village - My Sacred Land.

Now it's Anna cap
The Gandhi cap was popular in the freedom movement and is now seeing a resurgence harking back to its popularity at the time of Independence in 1947. After 64 years, Gandhian social activist Anna Hazare has again made the Gandhi cap popular.

This time the Gandhi cap with the words Mein Hoon Anna has resulted in people calling it the Anna cap. With Hazare on a hunger strike in Delhi to press for a stronger Lokpal bill to fight corruption, his supporters in the city are buying the cap from vendors for anything between Rs 20 and Rs 40, much more than what it usually costs. Arun Nagve, a salesman from Solapur, was selling the caps at the agitation venue on JM Road.

Trupti Desai, of Bhumana Brigade, who joined the agitation in Pune with the organization India Against Corruption, said, "The cost of these caps ranged from Rs 20 to Rs 40 at the venue, though they are available for Rs 10 even in Delhi."

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